Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity in Higher Education and American Society
The Civic Discourse Project (2017-2018)
The school dedicated our inaugural lecture series and conference to the theme of free speech and intellectual diversity. We felt a duty in our first year to address one of the most contentious issues in higher education today: the hyper-polarization of appropriate speech and invited speakers. Across eight lecture and dialogue events, plus a two-day conference, the school assembled high profile speakers from a range of viewpoints to discuss the meaning of intellectual diversity in education; the new challenges facing freedom of discourse; and the implications of this campus crisis for America’s civic order. Speakers include Jonathan Haidt, Steven Pinker, Allison Stanger, and Harvey Mansfield.
Featured event
The Importance of Open Dialogue
In January 2018, the school had Robert P. George and Cornel West join Arizona State University to discuss the importance of open dialogue in pursuit of civil discussion and the serious and respectful exchange of ideas, on university campuses and in American society. The event is co-sponsored by the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications and the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. It is the first 2018 event in the series: “Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity in Higher Education and American Society.”
Watch the series
Arizona PBS
The School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership has partnered with Arizona PBS to broadcast The Civic Discourse Project to the greater Arizona community. In its third year, the show has reached thousands of viewers across the Valley. Previous episodes can be viewed online on Arizona PBS' website.
In the news
Experts at inaugural ASU conference tackle campus free speech
February 25, 2018 | ASU Now
Arizona State University's School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership held its inaugural spring conference Friday and Saturday on the Tempe campus.
Free-speech discussion at ASU highlights universities' responsibility to the pursuit of truth
February 12, 2018 | ASU Now
As recently as January of this year, yet another college was in an uproar over a controversial speaker when University of Chicago students, faculty and alumni demanded the school rescind its invitation to former Trump White House Chief Strategist Ste
Steven Pinker addresses human progress, free speech to ASU audiences
April 4, 2018 | ASU Now
Steven Pinker has a message for all those standing at the ready, poised to raise the doomsday alarm at a moment’s notice: Not so fast. In his new book, “Enlightenment Now” (which Bill Gates has declared his “favorite book of all time”), the Harvar